Dell PowerConnect 55xx Systems User Guide 395FILE LOCATION: C:\Users\gina\Desktop\Checkout_new\Maintenance Projects\DellContax\sources\CxUGSwitching_Ports.fmD E L L C O N F I D E N T I A L – P R E L I M I N A R Y 1 0 / 3 0 / 1 3 - F O R P R O O F O N LYProtected PortsProtected Port OverviewProtected ports provide Layer 2 isolation between interfaces (Ethernet portsand LAGs) that share the same Broadcast domain (VLAN) with otherinterfaces. This can be used to set up a group of ports that receive similarservices.A protected port does not forward traffic (Unicast, Multicast, or Broadcast) toany other protected port on the same switch.A community is a group of protected ports. Protected ports within the samecommunity can forward traffic to each other.The following types of ports can be defined:• Protected Port — Can send traffic only to uplink ports.• Community Port — A protected port that is associated with a community.It can send traffic to other protected ports in the same community and touplink ports.• Uplink Port — An uplink port is an unprotected port that can send trafficto any port.• Isolated Port — A protected port that does not belong to a community.Port Protection is independent of all other features and configurationsettings. Two protected ports in a common VLAN cannot communicate witheach other.Protected Port RestrictionsThe following restrictions apply to protected ports:• When a protected port is placed in a LAG, it loses its protected portattribute and takes upon itself the LAG's protection attributes. When theport is removed from the LAG, its attributes are re-applied.• Mirrored traffic is not subject to protected ports rules.• Routing is not affected by the protected port forwarding rule, so that if apacket enters a protected port, it can be routed by the device to anotherprotected port.
